Railway-car truck.



PATENTED JAN. 9, 1906.

' W. FERRIS. RAILWAY CAR TRUCK. APPLICATION FILED 23.14, 1905.

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PATENTE'D JAN. ,9, 1906.

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W. PBRRIS. r RAILWAY GAR TRUCK.

APPLICATION FILED APR.14, 1905.

WL'ce/Jses.

@a/Af No. 809,435. PATENTED JAN. 9, 1906. W. PBRRIS. RAILWAY CAR TRUCK.APPLICATION rILBn 15911.14. 1905.

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v form ofthe diagonal braces.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER FERRIS, OF SOUTH MILVAUKEE, YVISCONSIN, ASSIGN OR TO THE BUCYRUSCOMPANY, OF SOUTH MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPO- RATION OF WISCONSIN.

RAILWAY-CAR TRUCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1906.

To a/ZZ vwhom t 11i/ty concern;

Be it known that I,WALTER FERRIs, a citizen of the United States,vresiding at South Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, State of Wisconsin,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Car Trucks;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to railway-car trucks, and has for its objecttoprovide a bolstertruck with a transverse truss that will take up anddistribute the heavy strains of tension and compression and hold thearch-bars on opposite sides of the truck in accurate vertical positionand parallel alinement and at the same time support the spring-plank andprevent the latter sagging at the middle.

The invention is particularly applicable to the trucks of railwaysteam-shovels, wrecking-cranes, and the like, but of course, is equallywell adapted to car-trucks generally which are subjected to heavylateral or torsional strains tending to distort the arch-bars andspring-plank.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure l is a transverse section of a bolstertruck having the inventionapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a modiiied Fig. 3 is asimilar view showing means independent of the bolster for connecting theupper arch-bars` Referring to Fig. l, a, indicates the truckbolster,which supports the weight of the car and transfers this weight to thesprings the latter being supported upon the spring-plank t, whichconsists of the usual channel-iron which is secured at its ends to thelower archbars e. Between the upper arch-bars d and the lower arch-barse are secured the usual bolster-columns i, which are rigidly secured tothe upper and lower arch-bars d and e and the tie-rodsf by the usualthrough-bolts. In trucks of this general character when used to supportthe car -bodies of steam-shovels, wrecking-cranes, and the like, havinga boom which is ada ted to be swung t0 various positions lateral y ofthe longitudinal aXis of the car-body, severe lateral strains areimposed on the trucks, which tend to throw the arch-bars out ofparallelism and also to destroy the vertical alinement of the upper andlower archbars, as well as to cause the spring-plank to sag at itsmiddle, due to the excessive weight transmitted to the plank by thesupportingsprings. In order to overcome the aboveenumerateddifficulties, the truck is converted into a truss by the interpositionof diagonal braces secured to the upper ends of the bolster-columns andto the spring-plank, respectively, so as to preserve the parallelism ofthe arch-bars on each side ofthe truck and also to maintain 'thevertical alinement of the upper and lower arch-bars on both sides of thetruck. This truss consists of upper and lower cord members anddiagonalbraces or stays. As the bolster itself is subject to vertical movement,due to the compression and expansion of the springs j, it cannot be usedas a point of attachment for the diagonal braces. It may be desired,however, to employ the bolster as the upper cord member of the truss,and to permit this the bolster is provided at its ends withupwardly-projecting lugs m and n, which closely embrace the upperarch-bars d and cause the bolster to act as an accurate distance-piecebetween the respective arch-bars d, notwithstanding the verticalmovement of the bolster. As the arch-bars are tied to thebolster-columns and also to the bolster, as far as lateral movement isconcerned it will be seen that a practically perfect transversebridge-truss will be produced by connecting the bolster-columns with thespring-plank by diagonal braces g. In this particular form of theinvention the diagonal braces g are connected to lateral lugs lc,projecting from the inner sides of the bolster-columns, and to themiddle point of the spring-plank channel, so that as far as lateralstrains of tension and compression are concerned the bolster, thearch-bars7 the bolstercolumns, and the spring-plank constitute a rigidtruss, and any undue strain im` posed upon the car-body will be equablydistributed by the truss to all parts of the truck, notwithstanding theindependent vertical movements of the bolster, and the springplank willbe prevented from sagging at its middle, even under excessive loads.

The construction illustrated in Fig. 2 differs from that just describedonly in the mode of attaching the upper ends of the di- IOO agonalbraces to the bolster-columns. In this form of the invention the laterallugs or ears are omitted from the columns, and the diagonal braces g aregiven a quarter-turn at their middle and the upper ends thereoi1 passedbetween the upper arch bars d and the tops of the bolster-columns, wherethey are rigidly secured by the through-bolts of the columns. The lowerends of the diagonal braces are securely riveted to the springplank atits middle.

In the further modiiication of the invention illustrated in Fig. 3 thebolster a is not employed as the upper cord member of the truss, andtherefore it is not essential that the arch-bars d be connected to thebolster by lugs, such as m and n, which latter are omitted in thisconstruction. The upper cord member is, however, supplied by atransverse rod or bar p, which is connected to the lateral lugs 7c onthe bolster-columns, to which the upper ends of the diagonal braces aresecured.

In all of these constructions it is to be noted that the diagonal bracesin addition to completing the truss which distributes the strains oftension and compression evenly over the truck structure serve topreserve the vertical alinement of the arch-bars on each side of thetruck and prevent the archbars on both sides of the truck being sprungout of' alinement and, furthermore, serve to support the spring-plankand prevent the latter sagging at its middle, due to the great pressureof the springs, which are located in part inside of the arch-bars.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A railway-car truck, comprising a bolster, upper and lower arch-bars,bolster-columns, a spring-plank secured to the lower arch-bars, meansconnecting the upper archbars to prevent independent lateral movementthereof, and diagonal braces attached at their ends to the upper ends ofthe bolster-columns and the spring-plank, respectively. Y

2. A railway-car truck, comprising a bolster, upper and lower arch-bars,bolster-columns, a spring-plank secured to the lower arch-bars, lugs onthe bolster ends engaging the upper arch-bars toprevent independentlateral movement of said arch-bars, and diagonal braces attached attheir ends to the upper ends of the bolster-columns and thespring-plank, respectively.

3. A railway-car truck, comprising a bolster, upper and lower arch-bars,bolster-columns, a spring-plank secured to the lower arch-bars, lugs onthe bolster ends engaging the upper arch-bars to prevent independentlateral movement of said arch-bars, and diagonal braces attached to thetop of the bolster-columns by the through-bolts and to the spring-plank,respectively.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER FERRIS.

Witnesses:

HARRY B. HAYDEN, RIDGELY FLETCHER.

